Mastermind still sought

Who orchestrated the assassination of  senator Benigno “Ninoy” Aquino Jr 28 years ago?

While many Filipinos still  want to get to the bottom of the crime, lawyer Democrito Barcenas admitted it would be difficult to solve.

“I don’t know how to proceed,” said Barcenas, one of the convenors in the Justice for Aquino-Justice for All (JAJA) Movement.

He said persons who may help shed light on the issue had already died.

But Barcenas, who now sits on the board of the Philippine National Oil Co., doesn’t want to give up.

“If we have the resources, we should get to the bottom of that case,” Barcenas told Cebu Daily News.

“We want the mastermind to be prosecuted and convicted.”

As of now, he said it is difficult to “connect the chain of proof” from the gunman to the mastermind.

The 73-year-old lawyer nonetheless urged the people never to lose sight of the  hero’s deeds.

Barcenas said he worries young people might forget deeds of valor that brought freedom and dignity to the country.

“Had it not been because of these heroes, we should not have acquired liberation,” said Barcenas, who was jailed for opposing  former president Ferdinand Marcos.

“Ninoy’s contribution was his sacrifice. He destroyed dictatorship and restored democracy in our country,” Barcenas said.

Ninoy, Marcos’ political rival, was shot dead by soldiers on the tarmac of the Manila International Airport when he returned from a three-year exile in the United States on Aug. 21, 1983.

An investigation concluded that Ninoy was shot by Rolando Galman who also got killed by soldiers.

Sixteen soldiers were eventually convicted in the Aquino-Galman double murder case.

However, the mastermind was never identified.